Facets of a Melody
by Homura Bakura
Summary: [complete] "I'm counting off the days without you and they never seem to end." A collection of oneshots for Lustershipping Week.
1. Cadence of Refraction

She hadn't intended to end up in the music hall, but here she was.

Masumi Kotsu sighed, although it came out more like a growl as she stalked down the hallway. Stupid rock-paper-scissors, she bet that Yaiba had cheated. Somehow. She wasn't sure how you cheated at rock-paper-scissors, but she was positive that Yaiba had. Now she was stuck running errands for the teacher, having to drop off all of these envelopes of paperwork at the administration office. Didn't being the top student in the Fusion course excuse her from having to be errand girl? And she had to cross through the _music_ hall of all places. During the day the place was a cacophony of second-rate instrumentalists. LDS didn't have a very large student base in its music clubs, but it rented the hall out to other schools, and thus they got too many non-LDS students goofing off around here.

Well, luckily, at least, it seemed that the hall was quiet for once after school hours. Not a single practicing instrument to be heard. Thank the heavens above.

She was halfway down the hall when she heard it.

Was that...singing?

Masumi paused in front of a partially open practice room door. A voice floated from through the crack, light, airy...peaceful.

" _As soon as Bon comes, I will leave for my hometown...the sooner Bon comes, the sooner I will go home."_

Masumi couldn't move. The song seemed, somehow, to wrap around her, holding her in place. She found her eyes fluttering shut so that she could do nothing but listen, her arms slackening a bit. Relaxing. Who _was_ that? It was...the most beautiful thing she had ever heard.

" _I am no better than a beggar, they are rich people. With good sashes and good dresses."_

The melody twisted up and over itself, whispering around Masumi like a summer breeze. She felt...tears springing to her eyes somehow.

" _Who will cry for me when I die? Only the cicadas in the mountain beyond the house."_

Her eyes flickered open. Who was singing? Who...who was the owner of that beautiful voice?

Masumi took a step towards the practice room. And then another. And one more. Her hand was against the door, pressing lightly against the wood as the voice continued.

" _No, it's not the cicadas...it's my little sister; don't cry little sister, or I will worry for you."_

She pushed gently on the door, just intending for it to open just enough so that she could see who was sitting at the piano, pluncking out soft notes in accompaniment to her voice.

" _When I am dead, bury me at the roadside—_ oh? Is someone there?"

The song stopped abruptly at the sound of the door squeaking softly. Masumi swore, stumbling back, almost tripping over her own feet. She felt heat explode in her cheeks and for a moment, she couldn't speak for the shock and embarrassment—she had just been spying on this girl and—

She heard the chair of the piano scootch out.

She fled before she could think of what else to do. Clutching the envelope to her chest and sprinting down the hall with her cheeks warm and her heart hammering, until she was at the end of the hallway and able to press herself against the wall around the corner, safe.

She didn't see the girl with the pink hair poke her head curiously out the door, or her deep blue eyes noting the disappearance of her own black hair around the corner.

She did, however, hear the girl close the door behind her, and the faint notes of her song drift out, muffled, through the far away door when she started to sing again.

Masumi didn't move from that corner for a long, long moment.

* * *

"So would one of you three like to take these down to administration for me again? Sorry, I know I've been doing this a lot—"

"I've got it."

"Ah, thank you, Kotsu-san. I appreciate it."

Yaiba froze in the middle of turning towards Masumi with his fist ready for rock-paper-scissors. Masumi was already plucking the envelope from their teacher's hand and tucking it under her arm, sauntering off down the hall. Yaiba threw Hokuto a sideways glance, but Hokuto was busy flicking through messages on his Duel Disk, and thus not paying attention.

"This is the third time she's done that," he said, trying to catch Hokuto's attention.

"Huh? Third time she's done what?"

"Taken the errand from the teacher without complaining about it. Think she's up to something?"

Hokuto glanced up from his screen, blinking at Yaiba.

"Masumi? What the hell _could_ she be up to?"

Yaiba frowned.

"I dunno. But it's not like her to just, ya know, do things like that without complaining."

Hokuto just shrugged.

"Well, whatever, as long as we don't have to do it, right?"

"Guess so."

Yaiba glanced after Masumi, but the girl was already long gone.

 _Wonder what put her in such a good mood_ , he thought. _Never seen her grin like that before._

Masumi stood outside the door again, her back pressed against the wall. Once again, the mystery girl had left the door slightly open, her voice floating through the crack. Masumi sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall just to listen.

Part of her wanted to try to peek inside again. She still didn't know who the girl was.

But the other part of her kind of didn't want the mysterious singer to know that Masumi had been...well, kind of stalking her in way.

It was enough to just listen to that melody, for now.

Masumi sighed softly again, and let the voice sink into her mind.

Masumi barely acknowledged Himika's words of praise for defeating the You Show duelist; she was in a hurry to leave now that this silly farce of fighting the You Show people was over.

 _Will she still be there?_ Masumi thought worriedly. _I don't know how long she stays._

She tried to still her impatience enough to walk instead of full out running, but she felt an uncommon amount of tension in her arms. She wanted...she wanted to go hear that voice again. She wanted to listen to the melody wrap around the air again. She just wanted to listen again...

She made it back to the school, and left off all pretenses, jogging up the stairs to the second floor of the music hall. She was panting when she reached the end of the hall.

 _I'm going to introduce myself today_ , she thought with a sudden rush of conviction. _I'm going to tell her how much I like her singing._

She didn't know where the sudden burst of courage had come from—maybe it was the win she had just gotten and Akaba Himika's praise. Either way, it didn't matter. She had decided, today was the day she was finally going to find out who the singer was, and...and then she didn't know, but she wanted to finally maybe...see her face to face.

Bolstered by this decision, Masumi squared her shoulders and marched down the hall. She was on such a high from her rush of confidence that she was putting her hand on the door to the practice room before she realized that...it was silent.

She blinked.

 _Not here today?_ she thought, stomach immediately dropping. _Oh, really? Come on!_

She turned the knob quietly and pushed the door half open anyway, peeking through.

The piano was empty of a player, the room empty of a voice.

 _She's...not here today._

Masumi closed the door, feeling her confidence and the rush of conviction sink under a surface of deep disappointment.

 _...tomorrow, then..._

* * *

The singer wasn't back tomorrow. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Masumi found herself standing outside the practice room for hours after school, waiting to see if she would show up. Even in between searching for Marco, and tracking down that person attacking LDS, she would find a few spare minutes to check.

She wanted to hear her again. Just...just one more time, even. Her nerves were getting so frazzled by everything that was happening, and she wanted to grab onto that peace that the singer's voice had brought her. Where...where was she?

The Maiami Grand Championship was upon her, and she had to try and forget about it. She had to focus.

The ghost memory of the singer lingered at the edge of her brain anyway.

* * *

Masumi felt so incredibly frazzled, despite keeping herself composed on the surface. She hadn't expected to _lose_ , but she found herself not minding, which was distressing in and of itself.

 _I can't believe I just gave her that card_ , she thought. _Is she going to use it? Will she like it? She damn well better take care of it—oh, I swear to God if that girl doesn't win the whole tournament I'm going to—_

Her thoughts wandered to the luster of the light refracting across Yuzu's eyes, the way that they had shone when she had smiled down at Masumi after Bloom Diva had caught her, the way that they had brightened her entire face when she had accepted the card from Masumi and waved goodbye.

Masumi tried to force the heat away from her cheeks by rubbing at them with her cold hands.

She was in the music hallway again, pacing up and down in front of her usual practice room—or, well, not hers, but the mysterious singer's. She didn't know why. There hadn't even been any school that day. If her mystery singer was anywhere, she wasn't going to be here.

 _She'll probably never come back at all_ , Masumi thought with a little more disappointment than she had expected.

Yuzu popped into her mind again and the disappointment lessened slightly. Then she shook her head furiously—oh, god, what was her brain doing today?

She heard a squeak of a sneaker on the floor, and a soft "oh?" Her eyes flashed up. W-what?

"H-Hiragi Yuzu?" she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you that..." Yuzu said.

Yuzu cocked her head slightly, causing her pigtails to tilt around her head. She carried a large shoulder bag clutched to her shoulder and she was no longer in her school uniform, but instead a light cream sweater and a black skirt. The light that filtered through the windows painted her in shades of orange and yellow, as though she were made from the rays of the sunset itself.

Masumi felt heat in her cheeks at that incredibly sappy thoughts and folded her arms tightly to try and hide how embarrassed she was by her brain.

"Well, I _happen_ to be an LDS student, you know! I'm allowed to be in my own school! Don't you have that silly little You Shoo place or something?"

"You _Show_ ," Yuzu corrected, smiling a little. "And the music hall isn't just for LDS..."

"But you have to have a keycard to get in here," Masumi said. "You have to be registered to use it..."

Yuzu held up her keycard in response, causing Masumi to trail off. They stood there, for a moment, in the awkward silence.

"So..." Yuzu said. "What _are_ you doing here? Are you in a music club at LDS?"

"N-no...a-and since when are you so musically inclined?"

Masumi could have kicked herself.

 _Have you forgotten her damn deck?_ she thought at herself.

Yuzu breathed out sharply through her nose. For a moment, Masumi thought she was snorting at her—but then she realized, Yuzu was giggling! The girl pressed a hand to her lips for a moment, shoulders shaking softly.

"What?" Masumi demanded. "What's so funny?"

"You are," Yuzu said. "You're just...you're so—I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, I promise, I'm not laughing at you, it's just—the situation, I mean..."

She couldn't speak for her tiny little giggles, pressing her hand to her mouth harder in an attempt to still them. Masumi bristled for a beat. But then she gave up, because...what was she even angry about...? And Yuzu's laughs were...kind of cute...

"Seriously, though," Masumi said. "Are you some kind of instrumentalist?"

Yuzu managed to still her giggles and composed herself.

"Yes—or, well, I'm a vocalist. I'm...an amateur, I guess. I don't have time for the choir at school because of You Show, but I take a few lessons here and there and my teacher got me a pass here so that I could practice. I come whenever I can—it's been so busy the past couple of weeks, though, what with the tournament and...everything..."

She trailed off, her eyes going out of focus. Masumi had opened her mouth to agree, that yes, this had been a very busy—and ridiculous—couple of weeks, but then—

"Wait," she said. "You mean...you use... _this_ practice room? This one?"

She pointed to the door right next to her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! That's the one I always use...I like it because there's a window that looks right out onto that cherry tree in the courtyard. Puts me in just the right mood to sing, you know?"

Masumi couldn't speak for a moment. She could barely even breathe.

 _All this time, it was_ her? she thought.

But the longer she looked at Yuzu...the more she took in her slight frame, the flipping of her hair at the ends, the... _luster_ of her eyes...Masumi wondered how she could have thought it was anyone else at all.

"Masumi? Is something wrong?" Yuzu asked.

Masumi blinked and realized with a jolt that she had been staring. She dropped her eyes with a flush to her cheeks.

"N-no, nothing is wrong!" she said. "Of course nothing's wrong!"

Her breathe caught at the ghost memory of Yuzu's voice dancing through her mind. She swallowed, fingers twisting into the hem of her shorts nervously. She couldn't look up to see Yuzu's expression—she was kind of afraid to. She looked everywhere but at Yuzu, the floor, the ceiling, the spiderweb in the corner there, out the window.

"I..." she said. "I was just thinking that...ah...I might like to hear you sing sometime. That's all."

She stared at the floor for a few more beats before finally chancing to look up at Yuzu. Yuzu's mouth had parted with surprise, the sunset glimmering in her eyes.

Then she smiled. And it was possibly the most beautiful thing that Masumi had ever seen.

"Do you...want to join me for a bit, then?" she asked, blushing shyly as she pointed towards the practice room. "I won't be here for very long...I just felt like...I'd like to sing today."

Masumi met Yuzu's eyes full on, without looking away, or trying to find some flaw in them, for perhaps the first time. She found herself smiling, even through the heat on her cheeks.

"I'd...yes, I'd like to...if you don't mind, that is."

Yuzu smiled. Then she pushed the door open, and beckoned Masumi after her.

Masumi followed, and the door closed quietly behind them.

* * *

Masumi sat with her back against the door, her knees hugged to her chest, and her face buried in her legs.

The music room was quiet behind her. As it had been the day before, and the day before that. Yuzu had not come home. She wasn't even in this dimension anymore.

 _Come back, dammit_ , Masumi thought, her whole body shaking with anger again. _Come...back..._

She was glad that the hall was empty right now.

That way no one would hear her cry.

* * *

 **A/N: welcome to Lustershipping Week! Y'all should join in, it's going on at fyeahlustershipping on Tumblr and it's great (I'm totally not just saying that because I'm running it, lol).**

 **Anyway, I just wanted to tell you here that the song that Yuzu is singing at the beginning is a real song, it's a traditional Japanese lullaby called Itsuki Lullaby. Clearly I have her singing a translation (only a semi good one though).**

 **Well, that's it for day one of Lustershipping Week! Hope you stick around for the whole week (and maybe even participate with something? Edits, writing, art, videos, playlists, anything? Please feed my poor sad Lustershipping heart)**


	2. Dispersion Aria

_Week 1 Without You_

Masumi had fallen asleep on the piano again.

Yaiba stopped at the half open door, hesitating. His hand hovered against the wood for a moment, halfway to pushing it all the way open. He could see her just barely through the crack, her face pressed into the keys, cheek smushed against the white and black. She was going to have marks on her face again, and he wasn't going to be allowed to say anything about it. Her arms dangled down beside her. Eyes closed shut, the most peaceful he had ever seen the girl since he had ever known her.

One week. It had already been one week since the end of the Maiami championship.

She had been here every single day since then. Yaiba had passed the room several times running errands for a teacher—things were chaos in the aftermath of Reiji's announcement about the impending interdimensional war, and every moment of every day was being spent preparing everyone. Combat training, defense lectures, fortification set up, organization of squads and emergency military hierarchies among the duel students as a reserve force if the invasion came too soon.

Yaiba hadn't slept in three days and he was staring to feel it. The second he would close his eyes, he saw those blue-coated guys in the masks with their sword-shaped duel disks, their cruel smiles twisting their faces as they mercilessly turned their enemies into cards. A lot of times, those images would turn into nightmares—nightmares that usually involved Hokuto. That must have been what had happened to him. That guy wouldn't disappear like that, not without a reason.

Yaiba's hand clenched on the door. His heart had started beating a little too quickly and he clutched at his chest in an attempt to calm down.

Yuzu was another one that had been missing since that day. Was Masumi thinking of her, too?

Yaiba pushed the door half open, peeking inside.

Was that the reason for the flowers?

They completely filled the small practice room, on every possible surface. Yaiba had found Masumi in here in the first place because he had seen her carrying a huge pot of tulips down the hall. He had watched her every day after that, climbing the stairs with another pot of flowers.

Every single one of them was a soft, gentle pink.

A breeze whispered through the open window, jostling the blossoms in a ripple of pink. Masumi seemed to be floating on a sea of petals. A ripple of cherry pink blossoms that bounced in the breeze.

 _It looks like a funeral offering_ , he thought with a sinking feeling in his chest.

Just who was Hiragi Yuzu to Masumi, in the end?

Masumi stirred in her sleep. Yaiba flinched a moment, taking a step back. Guilt stabbed him in the chest for spying on her. Her face turned slightly—was he imagining things or was...was that a tear in the corner of her eye?

" _Yuzu,"_ she whispered.

Yaiba thought he felt something lump up in his throat.

 _Fuck_ , he thought.

Yaiba hesitated for a few more moments. Then he stepped away from the door, and walked away down the hallway. Leaving Masumi in her sanctuary of petals.

* * *

Pink. Pink was the best thing to use to remember. Only a week had passed and already things were fading. She hadn't paid enough attention that single evening that they had spent together, the night after the duel, when Masumi had sat beside her at this very piano and watched Yuzu's fingers pick out careful notes. She was so hesitant with the piano, admitting that she had never actually learned how to play, and only knew it by sound. The lilt and twist of her voice in the small room, feeling so much more _real_ than when Masumi had listened from the hallway. There was something angelic about the sound, something heavenly in a way that she had never thought she would think of anything.

But the memory of that voice was fading. Masumi could only barely hear the echoes of Yuzu's song in her ears.

Pink. This room needed more of it, the shadow of Yuzu that still clung to this tiny room.

She couldn't put words to why she needed this so badly. She needed to cling to her. To Yuzu. She needed to capture that...that sense of peace that she had felt, at the end of their second duel, in that moment when she had learned that Yuzu was the owner of the voice, in that evening she had spent at Yuzu's side, listening to her voice swirl up to the ceiling like an angel's wings.

And thus...the flowers. She had seen the pot of tulips while walking back from one of her combat drills—combat drills. The very idea of that sent a shudder down her spine. She was a soldier, now. The thought made her feel uncomfortably sharp, not the sharpness of a perfectly polished gem, but the sharpness of steel and weapons. She...she wasn't sure she wanted to be that. And while thinking that, she had seen the flowers—the gentle, beautiful, soft-edged flowers the same color as Yuzu's hair, and the sight had taken her breath away.

She had brought them to the music room and put them on the seat next to her. A poor substitute. Even the wind jostling their blossoms did not make them sing.

She had tried to play the piano a few times, to sing a bit herself, but she didn't know what pitch was, and she had forgotten her piano lessons from her elementary school days, so she was reduced to picking out a few random notes in a half-hearted attempt to draw out a sound like Yuzu's voice.

She shifted in her sleep and dreams, half aware of the keys digging into her face.

 _Yuzu._

 _Come back._

She could fill this room with a million pink-hued flowers and they would still never match what had been here in that single evening that Masumi had gotten to be at Yuzu's side. Her hands clenched in her sleep.

Was this all she could do, in the end? Fill the room with flowers like a coffin was filled with petals?

She might as well admit that Yuzu was dead.

The thought made Masumi jerk her head up, snapping out of sleep. She blinked groggily for a moment, the world a blur of pink. Although, whether that was from the haze of sleep or the glazing of tears in her eyes, she couldn't be sure.

Masumi rubbed furiously at her eyes.

"You bitch," she muttered. "You'd better fucking come back. Do you hear me?"

The flowers, of course, did not answer.

But she knew, somewhere, in her heart—or rather, she clung to the idea of knowing, because she couldn't walk on with the thought of anything else—that Yuzu was still alive. She was out there, and she was fighting.

Masumi just had to wait until she could hear her voice raised in song again.


	3. Fractured Chorus

[crystal]

 _Week 2 Without You_

There were crystals hanging in the window of that fancy Tops shop, and they jingled every time the door opened like a chorus of wind chimes.

The sound made Yuzu stop in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at the crystal chimes, watching the way they bounced slightly in the movement of people inside the store, each perfectly blue crystal angled at just the right height so that they would bump against each other and draw out those clear notes.

For a moment, her fingers hovered over an invisible piano. She remembered the feeling of soft hands over hers—Masumi had played before, she said. This is the way to angle that note.

A hollow laugh bubbled in Yuzu's throat at the ghostly memory of those warm hands on top of hers, that self-satisfied tone in her voice as though she somehow knew more than Yuzu about the piano and was pleased with herself because of it. Yuzu hadn't complained, though. She had let Masumi guide her fingers over the keys even though Masumi barely remembered anything of her piano lessons from her youth and it made the music go a lot slower with two people trying to play the same thing at once.

Yuzu had joked with her that night that she should just have Masumi play for her when she sang. Masumi had made that little huff of self-satisfaction that she seemed prone to—that sound that she made when she was pleased with herself.

But she had been blushing, Yuzu remembered. A hint of red that matched her eyes, deep and crimson and sharp as rubies.

She had been gone from her own dimension for two weeks. Everything hurt. Her hand wrapped into the cloth of her shirt over her heart and squeezed. Her eyes screwed shut for a moment in a futile attempt to still the tears. Images flashed over her eyes—her father, the kids at You Show, her friends from school, Gongenzaka, Yuya. Masumi.

" _Oh my god, are you crying?"_ she had asked that night.

Yuzu had rubbed furiously at her eyes, blushing with embarrassment.

" _It's a sad song,"_ she had said, defensive. _"It makes me sad."_

Masumi had looked at her for a moment, eyes wide with incredulity, that roughness and irritability and insensitivity that had made Yuzu dislike her so much the first time they had met. And then her eyes had softened, from hard-edged rubies into soft red rose petals. She had looked down at the piano. Hand resting tentatively on Yuzu's shoulder. She had said nothing more as Yuzu tried to get a hold of herself, embarrassed for her tears. It was only a song, after all. It didn't mean anything to her.

"But sure a body's bound to be a dreamer," Yuzu whispered to herself, the song that had made her cry that night, "when all the things she loves are far away..."

It meant something to her now.

For a moment, she thought that she could feel Masumi's hand on her shoulder again. Squeezing ever so gently, with a lightness and sensitivity that Yuzu had never imagined possible from Masumi. A silent reassurance from the last person she had expected it from.

 _I wish you had come with me,_ she found herself thinking, and was surprised at how much she meant it. How much safer she would have felt if Masumi had been at her side, with her diamond-sharp tongue and her quick-tempered fury in a duel.

"Oy! Yuzu!" Yugo called over his shoulder. "What's the matter? Come on, we have to keep moving!"

Yuzu blinked away her tears quickly and plastered a smile onto her face. Yugo wouldn't notice the difference, she thought.

"I'm coming!" she called.

The crystals continued to swing back and forth, back and forth.


	4. Luminescent Harmony

She shouldn't be here. This was stupid. What was she doing, creeping around back and forth down the street in front of You Show Duel School? It was closed. All of the duel schools were closed. Everyone was participating in either LDS sanctioned combat courses or they had their own regiments that they were busy preparing for the oncoming invasion.

 _What a dump_ , she thought half-heartedly as she glared at the little school across the street. She wasn't doing the best job of being inconspicuous—she was intensely aware of how suspicious she looked in her dark blue hoodie and sunglasses, walking back and forth on both sides of the street and continually stopping to glare at the building. Maybe part of her was hoping that someone would open the door and yell at her, or maybe ask her what she was up to. So that she would be forced to come up with a reason, because part of her wasn't sure she had one.

 _This is where Yuzu went to school._

It was a waste of her talents, Masumi thought without really considering what it was that she was thinking. Yuzu was a natural at Fusion. No real formal training with it and yet she had defeated _Masumi,_ LDS' Fusion ace.

She felt something within her tense at the thought, then. Just thinking about Fusion made her stomach twist and turn, made her feel like she was going to throw up. Fusion had taken Hokuto's life. Fusion had invaded her homeland and turned it into a chaos prepared for battlefield.

Fusion had stolen Yuzu away before Masumi had even gotten a chance to know her.

Masumi growled under her breath and turned on her heel, planning to stalk away. She'd probably find herself walking past You Show again, she thought. Or maybe she'd go back to the music room. It was the only place that gave her any peace anymore, between combat drills and fear mongering and nightmares.

She heard a door creak open.

"Hello? Are you okay, miss...? I've seen you walk past a few times and I was just wondering if you were lost..."

Masumi froze as she realized she was being spoken too. She thought about bolting—but no, during the fear that gripped Maiami? She'd probably cause a panic. She turned to face the speaker and for a moment, she thought she saw Yuzu and her heart clenched.

It wasn't Yuzu, clearly, and she shouldn't have mistaken him for her. The resemblance, though, was definite. He had the same clear eyes and the same nose. He must be Yuzu's father, Masumi realized. The man who owned You Show.

Masumi ducked her head, mouth half opening. What was she supposed to say? Well, she had half wished for someone to notice her, and now look where she was. Careful what you wish for, and all that.

The man blinked.

"Hang on...aren't you...Masumi-san, right? From LDS?"

Masumi's shoulder drew up around her ears.

"...yeah."

She didn't look up for a moment. No one spoke.

Then he stepped back, opening the door a little wide.

"Would you like to come inside?" he asked.

Masumi wasn't sure how to say no.

That was how she found herself standing awkwardly in the middle of the tiny lobby, furnished with only a pair of old, worn couches and a few mismatched tables scattered with pamphlets for tournaments and duel colleges. Hiragi Shuzo returned from the kitchen with a cup of tea for Masumi, and she accepted it with a mumbled thank you. He half smiled at her. It was a tired smile...an old smile, like he was twice the age he appeared. Masumi had seen that kind of smile on her mother's face when she looked at the bills scattered across the table, after her father had stormed out after his yelling spree.

They stood there quietly for a moment, neither of them even drinking the tea, just...holding it.

"So," Shuzo said. "Are you doing all right, Masumi-san? What brings you this direction?"

Masumi opted to quickly take a sip of tea so that she could have an excuse for not answering right away. He waited, patient, like a teacher waiting for his student to fumble for the correct answer. Masumi finally let the cup drop from her lips.

"I don't know," she said, her voice coming out choked and tight. "I really...don't know."

He didn't speak for a moment. He sighed, then, and set his cup down on the table.

"Would...by any chance...have anything to do with my Yuzu?"

Masumi flinched and some tea splattered her hand. She almost dropped the cup, but Shuzo's hand snapped out to cup her hand in both of his, stilling it before the tea splattered to the ground. Once certain that she was all right, he dropped her hand. Masumi couldn't look at him, shaking.

"I...I keep thinking," Masumi said, barely certain of what she was saying, the words forcing their way out on their own. "If I had...won that match...Yuzu might not have...she wouldn't have...been out in that battlefield...it would have been me..."

 _She's too kind_ , Masumi had found herself thinking over and over. _She saved me without a moment's thought. Every time I confronted her, she only met my gaze with determination. She never spoke a word against me even when she had every reason to._

Her hands curled into fists.

 _Yuzu is too kind for a war._

 _She's not aggressive enough to protect herself._

 _She would try to talk to them instead of fighting them, I'm sure._

 _It should have been me out there._

"Stop," Shuzo said, perhaps a little harsher than he should have. "The past is over, Masumi-san...and as much as it hurts me that my daughter is...so far away...I wouldn't wish this on you or your family, either."

He sighed, running a hand down his face. Then he met her eyes, and she finally lifted her gaze to meet his. She had to draw in a breath for a moment because...

 _So this is where Yuzu gets her eyes from_ , she thought. _That determined gaze._

She saw Yuzu's eyes dance behind her eyelids and she thought that she was going to cry.

"What was Yuzu to you?" Shuzo asked softly.

Masumi dropped her eyes away. Yuzu's smile glowed at the back of her mind. The feel of her soft hands under Masumi's and Masumi tried to guide her fingers over the piano keys. Perhaps that had just been an excuse, Masumi thought. She had wanted so badly to see what her soft hands felt like.

"I didn't get a chance to figure that out," she whispered.

* * *

Masumi wasn't sure why Shuzo had let her up to see Yuzu's room, but perhaps he thought, somehow, that it would help Masumi cope.

" _I've left it alone, for the most part,"_ he had said. _"So that it's all in order when she comes back..."_

When she comes back. He had said it with a combination of uncertainty and confidence, a strange but understandable mix. Masumi herself wondered, sometimes, if Yuzu could possibly be gone forever.

 _She can't be_ , she had thought. _She just can't be. She'll come back. She's too annoying to stay away forever._

Masumi turned in a slow circle in the middle of the room, looking at everything. So much pink, she thought. Pinks and yellows and blues, all in pastels. Everything was incredibly neat, too, her folders and notebooks stacked in color coded order, the drawers labeled with carefully lettered stickers.

She wandered towards the desk, a dark rosy brown in color. There were sheets of music laid across it, Masumi realized. She recognized some of the lyrics, songs that Yuzu had sung that night and during the days before Masumi had known the owner of the voice. Masumi ran her fingers across the notes, trying to remember the time she had heard Yuzu sing this one.

" _Don't forget when you're missing me so, love must never hold, never hold tight but let go..."_

 _Bullshit_ , Masumi thought. _Bull. Shit._

Love shouldn't let go. Not like this. Not ever, if you could help it.

She drew a hand to her lips, pressing her fingers against her mouth. Oh. Love? Was she thinking...love?

Her eyes dropped back down to the notes and she continued reading the notes, hearing Yuzu's voice sing in the back of her head, a ghost that was clinging to—why? Why was she clinging so hard?

" _Oh the nights will be long, when I'm not in your arms. But I'll be in the song that you sing to me, across the sea."_

Tears bubbled up in her eyes and she couldn't read anymore. She felt her knees shaking.

Love.

She loved Yuzu.

Or maybe—maybe she _could_ have loved Yuzu, if she hadn't disappeared so quickly. Was this real? Or was this Masumi's desperation?

No. It wasn't. Masumi loved Yuzu. She loved Yuzu's soft voice rising to the ceiling in song, the feel of her hands, the tentative way she picked out notes on the piano, the tears in her eyes when she sang that sad song even though it meant nothing, the way she had blushed in embarrassment about the song making her cry, the determined luster of her eyes when she was set on a goal, the way that she always stood back up, that smile of relief when Bloom Diva had managed to catch Masumi and—

That was it. That was the moment that Masumi had fallen, completely and totally, for the luster of Yuzu's eyes and the glow of her smile. Her softness and kindness and everything about her.

She crumpled to her knees, pressed a hand to her mouth to muffle her sobs...

And cried.

 _Why do I have to be in love with you?_

She cried and cried and cried, she thought she might never stop.

 _Why can't I just stop loving you? Why can't I stop?_

Masumi loved Yuzu.

But Yuzu was gone.

" _Somehow, someday...you will be far away, so far from me. And maybe one day I will follow you, in all you do. Til then, send me a song."_

Masumi was clutching the sheets of music in her hands when she left Yuzu's room. Shuzo didn't notice, or didn't mention it. Masumi met his eyes with all of her force, despite the treacherous tears in her eyes.

"I'm going to bring her home," was all she said. There was no room in her for a polite goodbye, or even a thank you. That was all that was left in her. A promise. "I'm going to bring her home."

Shuzo smiled at her with that tired smile of his, and nodded.

Maybe he didn't quite believe. It didn't matter. Masumi did.

 _Damn you, Yuzu, for making me fall in love with you_ , Masumi thought.

Until she stopped loving Hiragi Yuzu, she would not stop trying to bring her home.


	5. Partita of Gravity

_Week Four Without You_

Yuzu wrote letters. She wrote and wrote and wrote. She wrote until her hand cramped and she could barely let go of the pen and then she kept writing anyway.

One for dad. One for Ayu, and for Futoshi, and for Tatsuya. One for Yuya, a response to the letter he had sent her to reassure her, even though she wouldn't know how to return it to him. One to Yugo, one to Selena, one to the Rin and Ruri she had never met. She had so many things to say that she didn't know if she'd be able to.

Dad: _I'm okay. I promise I'm okay. I'm working hard. I'll be home soon._

The You Show kids: _Keep working hard. I'll be home as soon as I can. I can't wait to see how much better at dueling you've all gotten while I was away. Don't lose hope._

Yugo: _Thank you for taking care of me. Please stay safe. This world of yours seems so dangerous._

Selena: _I hope my words reached you. You're with the Lancers now, I can see that—that's good. I wonder what you're thinking now._

Rin, and Ruri: _I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish I knew why they wanted us. I wish I knew how to save you. You deserve to come home._

Yuya: _Thank you. God, thank you. Thank you for sending me your words, for strengthening me, for reassuring me, for promising me that you're going to try as hard as you can, because it gives me the strength to work hard too. It gives me the strength to hope and believe too. I won't give up ever again. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please remember that you are strong and that your smile has reached me._

Masumi:

And her pen stopped. Page after page filled with words and words and more words, things that the receiver would never see, but things that she wanted—no, _needed—_ to say.

Masumi:

Her pen pressed to the paper after the name but her hand shook. No words flowed. Not like they had for the others.

She crossed out Masumi's name. Wrote it again, as though that would spark her thoughts. It didn't. So she crossed the name out and rewrote it again. And then wrote her name a third time without crossing it out.

 _Masumi. Masumi. Masumi. Masumi_.

It was a chant, a meditation. The girl's name blurred before Yuzu's eyes but she kept writing it even as her hand started to shake and her eyes blurred with tears so that every incarnation of the name grew sloppier and sloppier until it was just a scribble without meaning.

She dropped the pen. Her head collapsed to the table.

Tears stained the paper underneath her.

 _Masumi,_ she thought to herself, in lieu of writing it. _Masumi, Masumi, Masumi, Masumi._

What would Masumi have done if she had been here instead? She probably wouldn't have cried. She probably wouldn't have panicked. She probably would have taken to the D-Wheeler like a fish to water, and grinned with that competitive streak of hers, unafraid of the Friendship Cup competitors. Perhaps she wouldn't hurt as much when she thought about how she had just sent someone down below the city to work in a forced labor facility for the rest of their lives. That victory, in this case, led to the ruining of another's life.

Or maybe, instead, she would have been better at rebelling against the system. Louder. Harsher. Maybe her voice would have reached this bloodthirsty audience in a way that Yuzu's couldn't. She probably would have been able to be...stronger. Tougher. She probably wouldn't be breaking down right now and sobbing into a piece of notebook paper.

And that was when the words came. Yuzu snapped up, grabbed her pen, pressed it to the paper even though it was stained with tear drops and she almost tore through it a few times because it was still wet.

 _I need you._

 _I need your strength._

 _I need the feeling of you next to me, I need to feel like you're guiding me the way that you guided my hands on the piano._

 _I'm not strong enough. I thought I was stronger than this but I'm not. I thought I had learned enough but I haven't. I'm not cut out for this. I'm not...enough. I want to be enough. I feel like_

 _I feel like_

 _if you were here, I would be enough. We would be enough. Together, I mean._

 _I'm just_

 _just_

 _I'm scared_

 _I need you._

 _I need you at my side, I need to hear you scolding me and snapping at me to get back on my feet and keep going. I don't know if I can do this on my own. I wish_

 _I wish you were here so that_

 _so that I could tell you_

There was only a second's hesitation before she wrote the last line.

 _I love you._

Because, Yuzu realized, it was true. She loved Kotsu Masumi. She loved the way that the girl flipped her hair up in the air when she was trying to intimidate her opponent by looking confident. She loved the way she let out that little huffing sound when she disagreed with something. She loved Masumi's soft hands laying on top of hers, the faint scent of some kind of acidic chemical that must come from cleaning gems, the way that she blushed and stuttered sometimes and revealed that she wasn't quite as cool as she liked to pretend she was, that haughty look of self-superiority that seemed to melt into awkward respect when she didn't have a reason to pose.

"I love you," Yuzu whispered, her voice choked tight.

She balled up all of the letters and threw them into the trash can. She would never be able to send them.

She stared at the one to Masumi for a long time.

Then she balled that one up too and threw it out. She knew so starkly that it was possible she would never see Masumi again.

They were things that she would probably never be able to say.


	6. Absorption Minuet

_Last Day Without You_

Masumi awoke that morning with a horrible taste in her mouth and a tremble in her fingers as though some dream had decided to cling to her even in her waking moments. The dream, however, refused to be remembered, and she only lay there with a growing feeling of dread in her stomach for about five minutes. Then she growled under her breath and snapped to sit upright. No. Those emotions would _not_ have any sway over her today.

Still, the feeling of uncertain dread clung to her for the rest of the morning as she shoved clothes into a small bag, strapped her Duel Disk to her arm and loaded the cards inside. Was it just because of what she was planning to do this morning? Was that the reason for her uncertainty and her nervousness?

She slung her bag over her back and tiptoed to the top of the stairs. Her ears strained towards her parents' room.

Quiet. They were asleep.

She sent a silent apology their way before slipping one careful step at a time down the squeaky stairs, trying to cling as close to the wall as possible so that she wouldn't make any sound.

Yaiba was waiting where he had said he would be, on the bench across the street that was mostly hidden from her parents' window by a low hanging tree. Masumi let the door fall quietly behind her, and turned to face him.

She hesitated for a moment, breathing out. Her breath condensed in the air.

 _Snow's coming early,_ she thought. _Very early_.

It was like the world itself realized how topsy-turvy everything had become, and Mother Nature was altering to fit that. She clenched her hands around her backpack straps. Swallowed thickly.

Then she stepped off the sidewalk, and crossed over to Yaiba.

He looked like some kind of dragon with the breath curling from his lips, wisping past his shaggy hair.

"Are you totally, _totally_ sure about this?" he asked, every word coming out like a puff of smoke.

She raised an eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes.

"I don't know why I bothered asking," he said. "All right, fine. But we're going to get into so much trouble if they find out."

"Don't tell me that you don't want to get some revenge on them for Hokuto," she said, shifting her bags. "Or for Marco. Or the others that they killed during the tournament."

Yaiba's hand tightened on the back of the bench. She saw his jaw clench, and his hand flicker towards his breast pocket where he was probably keeping the card that held Hokuto. They had sneaked into the headmistress' office just a few days ago to steal it back. They hadn't been able to find Marco's card, but the cards of the other lost duelists from the tournament had all been laid out neatly on a table, like a miniature graveyard.

Both of them had agreed that Hokuto had the right to come along on this mission of theirs, in one form or another.

 _Besides,_ Masumi thought with a rush of vindictive fury. _If I find any of those Academia bastards...I'm going to beat out of them how to get everyone back to normal._

She sucked in a deep, thin breath, the cold burning at her throat.

"Let's go," she said.

She started walking without waiting for Yaiba to stand up. She heard him swear under his breath as he grabbed his bag and hurried to keep up with her.

The walk to LDS took under two minutes, but Masumi's heart was pounding in her chest so loudly that she could hear it drumming in her ears. This was the tricky part.

Masumi and Yaiba hid themselves behind a couple of bushes, crouching low and close, their breaths beginning to swirl together into the sky. There was no less than five Special Ops officers standing in front of the LDS building. They had two options—go over and pretend like they were there on an errand for the headmistress, like they had last time (which probably wasn't going to work a second time, by now they probably realized that the headmistress hadn't sent for them at all) or...

She lifted up her duel disk. Sucked in a steadying breath.

"I activate Fusion," she whispered.

She angled her Duel Disk to project the Solid Vision as far to their left as possible, and then slipped the card into the slot. The generic fusion monster she had pulled from a pack swirled into life with the telltale symbol of swirling blue and orange. The flashing of lights immediately drew the attention of the five guards. Masumi heard a chorus of swears—anger and panic all mixed into one as more than one Duel Disk activated.

Masumi whispered a brief direction to the fusion monster through her disk, and the dog creature went loping off down the road and darted into an alley. Masumi chanced a glance over the bush.

 _Perfect_.

All five of them had given chase. That was something of a security breach there, but Masumi couldn't be bother to let them know how tactically stupid they were right now. She just grabbed Yaiba under the shoulder and they bolted for the doors.

Remarkably, their LDS badges still worked to unlock it, and they tumbled inside.

There was no time to enjoy the lavish lobby. They had gotten lucky again, the hall was empty.

The pair bolted across the marble floor and streaked down the hall. When they reached the door at the end of the hall, Masumi ripped open the panel and jabbed in the code that she had stolen off of a special ops officer the day before. The door slid open—code was still good, thank god—and they hurried inside.

Masumi didn't pause to stare at the lab equipment or the glowing screens like something out of a science fiction movie. She was looking for one thing in particular—

There it was, hanging from a pair of robotic arms, paused in the middle of some kind of analysis. They had timed it right, no one was in the lab this early in the morning. Masumi bolted forward and yanked the Duel Disk free. This was it—it was definitely the same Duel Disk used by the mysterious young man with Yuya's face but XYZ's power.

An alarm screeched through the room. Yaiba swore.

"Masumi, I hope you know how to use that thing!" he said, whipping around towards the door with his Duel Disk out.

Masumi jabbed at the Duel Disk and brought it online.

 _How does it teleport? How do we go where Yuzu went?_

For a moment, panic gripped her. She didn't know what she was doing. There could be a million and one dimensions for all she knew and she didn't know how to get to even one of them. She didn't know which one Yuzu had gone to, even! Was she in the Fusion dimension with the invaders, a prisoner? Was she in another dimension, dropped off by accident during the chaos?

Was she a card somewhere in the city where Masumi hadn't searched, and she was already long gone?

Frustrated tears bubbled in her eyes. She pushed her forehead into the Disk.

"Masumi!" Yaiba said.

There were footsteps pounding down the hall, but all Masumi could do at that moment was shake and cry silently with her head leaned against the disk.

She was stupid. This was stupid. She didn't know what she was doing.

She just—she just wanted to see Yuzu again.

She felt the Duel Disk hum.

Her hands snapped it back down so that she could stare at it. Had she hit a button with her forehead? There was something flashing across the screen— _Transfer to Synchro in 3...2..._

"Yaiba!" she screamed.

The Duel Disk was glowing, she felt something like fizzy bubbles running all down her skin—or no, becoming her skin—and everything around her was starting to blur.

Yaiba whipped around and flung himself at Masumi. She reached for him, managed to grab his wrist as he grabbed her shoulder, and then he was becoming bubbles and sparkles too and the entire world was disappearing as the door smacked open to reveal a bunch of special ops—

And then they were gone.

Masumi stumbled and dropped to her butt. She shuddered, hands still clutching the Duel Disk like it was a lifeline in the middle of the ocean. Yaiba managed to keep his feet, although his eyes were wide and his mouth hung open.

"Did we...make it?" he asked.

Masumi's heart fluttered.

 _Yuzu_. _Yuzu, I'm here._

She scrambled to her feet. She shoved the XYZ Duel Disk into her bag—they would need it to get home later. They had made it—they were here. Perhaps it was the disorientation and nerves, but there was no doubt in Masumi's mind that they had indeed made it to where Yuzu was. Yuzu was here. She had to be. Masumi could almost taste it.

"What now, Masumi?" Yaiba said uncertainly, looking up and down the buildings and turning in a slow circle.

Masumi buzzed with anticipation and adrenaline. This place was not Maiami—it was different, so different. There seemed to be a city rising over the top of this one, and this one they stood in was a place of low buildings and trash blowing in the wind, dark alleys and at least one man in shabby clothing hanging out at the far street corner. Masumi hoped he hadn't seen them jump out of thin air—but then, who would believe him if he had?

Masumi stared up at the sky and was surprised to see something like roads cutting across it. She could see one just to the side of them, and if she stretched, she could sort of see it at an angle where people on the road were visible, zipping past on...motorcycles? Yes, that was it. Masumi squinted. One of the motorcycles was _huge_. She had never seen anything so ridiculous. The other was too small to see clearly, especially in relation to the other one. Masumi winced as a helicopter zoomed past, clearly followed the pair. She squinted again and realized it was a news helicopter, flying low to catch the pair of motorcycles on television.

"What is going _on_ up there?" Yaiba asked, squinting.

Masumi's heart jumped. Before her brain could comprehend it, she knew it. She knew who was up there as certain as she knew that snow came in winter.

She opened her mouth, tears bubbling in her eyes.

And then the smaller motorcycle crashed into the bigger one.

Masumi's world froze like ice. She saw it happen in slow motion, through the haze of frost on a window pane, saw the tiny figure go flying from her motorbike, flung like a rock from a sling shot off of the lane and _crash—_ smoke billowed from the side of the building where the motorcycle had struck.

And then the ice of Masumi's world shattered and she felt herself shatter into tiny pieces inside.

" _YUZU!"_


	7. Lustrous Duet

When she fell, she thought, for a moment, that she had heard someone scream her name.

For some reason, the last face in her mind before it all went dark was Masumi's.

The last thought was a silent plea.

 _Reach me. Please._

* * *

Masumi didn't listen to Yaiba's shout for her to wait. That they didn't know for sure that that had been Yuzu. They shouldn't get separated, they had to stay together, they didn't know where this was or what the rules were and _are you even listening?_

She didn't listen. She couldn't. Yuzu needed her.

* * *

Through a haze of pain and tears she saw a blur of blue hovering over her, felt a cold hand press against her neck to search for signs of life. Her fingers twitched, desperate to feel those soft hands entwined with her own.

"Ma-su-mi?" was all she managed to breathe.

The only response was a whispering, a shushing, a murmuring that it was going to be okay, just relax. Her eyes fluttered shut again. She dreamed once of cool brown hands guiding her fingers across piano keys before she fell back into the blackness again.

* * *

Yuzu wasn't there. Masumi couldn't hear over the roar of blood in her ears. The place was crawling with men in uniform, helmets and sunglasses and motorcycles that spun with red and blue, lines of hurriedly plastered yellow tape blocking off the wreckage. The pink motorbike— _a memory of pink flowers dancing in a breeze, a poor substitute for her—_ sighed unto the ground, mangled and smoking and was that a spark of flame leaping from its engine?

Not here. She left. How? Had the police officers taken her away already? Had there been an ambulance she hadn't seen? How had they moved her from this top floor without Masumi seeing them as she darted from hallway to hallway? Instinct more than anything told her to duck out of sight of the police officers—she wasn't so rattled not to recognize that she was out of her element. She did not know the rules of this world, she did not even know what kind of game was being played. She didn't know what worked and when and how and she couldn't yet trust anyone.

Yuzu wasn't here. That much was clear.

So where?

"Goddamn," swore an officer feet away from Masumi's hiding place, pressed against the wall in the hall, heart hammering and cold sweat plastering her hands to the wall behind her. "Where the hell did she go? She grow wings or something?"

"Well, she certainly wasn't fucking walking after this...nasty shit. Man. Surprised it's not more of a mess than it is."

Masumi's breath caught in her throat and she choked. She slapped a hand over her mouth to still the sound. She did not want to think about the possibilities.

"Well, wherever she went, she won't go far. People on the street'll find her."

In Masumi's panicked brain, she decided that these men were Yuzu's enemies. She had nothing to back it up, only panic and instinct and a desperate desire for Yuzu.

She had to find Yuzu first.

* * *

She drifted in and out of consciousness. There was no one near, she knew that much. She felt cold and alone. Helpless. She couldn't move. Could barely even hear, think.

 _Broken_ , she thought. _Something in me. Broke when I fell. A lot of things, maybe._

Getting up would be impossible. Moving would be impossible. Escape, if it was necessary, would be impossible. Would they be here soon, to send her below ground? Force her to work in the underground facility in her condition until she dropped dead right there on the ground?

A terrified tear rolled down her cheek.

She tried to get up. She tried and tried and tried. But she could only get the barest twitch out of her fingers, and that sent a wash of pain over her. She had to get up. Yuya would be worried. Selena would be worried. Gongenzaka would be worried. Everyone would be worried. She had to let them know that she was okay. She had to...let them...

She had to reach that small blur of blue, the only thing that she could think about. She had to...reach Masumi.

 _Masumi...please...help me..._

* * *

Yuzu had caught her, that day only a few weeks before that felt like a few years. She had caught Yuzu in the arms of her flower singer and Masumi had thought that Yuzu's arms must feel just as warm as that.

But Masumi hadn't been there to catch her. If she had left a few moments earlier. If she had convinced Yaiba to leave with her at midnight instead of four am. They would have been here in time for Masumi to catch her.

She could have been there. She could have been there.

The thoughts rolled over and over in her head as she ran. She wanted to scream Yuzu's name but she bit the impulse down. She couldn't attract the attention of the searching police.

A frustrated sob bubbled out of her throat. This was impossible. She was only one person. The police were everywhere searching for Yuzu. There were probably cameras, security, every piece of networking out there that they had that Masumi didn't. It was impossible for her to think that she could find Yuzu first.

Impossible. Too impossible.

She had to try anyway.

 _Wait for me, Yuzu._

* * *

The blue hadn't been Masumi. As happy as Yuzu had been to see Sora, she couldn't deny the stab of disappointment at not seeing a familiar Gem Knight swing into view. Had she dreamed Masumi's voice calling out to her in the distance? She had fallen a long way, Sora said. It was a miracle she had come out as unscathed as she had. Sora's Frightfurs had cushioned part of the fall, but honestly, she shouldn't be walking right now.

Yuzu only nodded, only half listening to him scold her for getting up and walking around without her.

She had been so sure. So sure that Masumi was here, somehow, looking for her. Like the thread of nostalgic song tugging at her heart.

But then, that was impossible, wasn't it? It would have been impossible for Masumi to come all this way. Yuya...Yuya and the others had made sense. Reiji was smart, and had the technology. But for Masumi...it would be impossible. The odds were too high for her to reach this far. And really, why would she? They weren't...that close.

Her hand twitched at her side as Tsukikage led her down the alleyway with the children in tow. She wanted so badly for a hand to grab hers. A cool, sun-brown hand tightening in hers, crimson eyes narrowing as she scolded Yuzu for going so far without her, for getting herself into such trouble. For not staying to finish the Maiami tournament. _"After all, you beat me! That means you have to win the whole damn thing, or I won't forgive you!"_

There was no hand in hers. There was no voice to scold her.

There was no song between them, pulling them closer together.

There was no one to stay at her side when Tsukikage told her that he heard "Reira-dono" dueling nearby, and he had to go to him. There was no one to press against her in reassurance when Tsukikage had her and the children crouch inside an abandoned building under a rotting bar to keep them out of sight until he returned with Reira. There was no one to grab her hand and stop her from darting out of her hiding place and running down the hall to distract the police officers getting too close from the children. No one to shout at her about how stupid she was being putting herself in danger when she found herself cornered at the end of a hallway and turned to face no less than four officers all at once.

No one to stand at her side and lift her Duel Disk in solidarity. Yuzu felt frustrated tears bubble in her eyes.

It really was impossible for Masumi to reach her, wasn't it?

* * *

She ducked behind another corner. Darting and weaving, back and forth. Yaiba had been lost some time ago, and she felt a stab of guilt, but he could handle himself. Yuzu was laying somewhere, hurt, maybe even dying, probably alone. Masumi had to reach her, no matter what it took.

And then she stopped. She almost tripped with how abruptly she had skidded. She whipped around, hair snapping around her in a black wave, and strained to hear. Was that...

Music. She heard music. The hovering, dulcet tones of a Melodious in battle.

 _Yuzu_.

Masumi bolted across the street. She didn't care if anyone saw her anymore. Yuzu was near, and she had to get to her.

It was coming from that building, half torn down and sagging. Somewhere up above! She exploded into the lobby of an old tavern, wild eyes flashing in all direction. A small face poked over the bar and squeaked before vanishing. Masumi threw herself across the room and leaned over the bar.

The three children hiding there flinched and cowered. She didn't have time to comfort them.

"Yuzu," was the first word out of her mouth. "Where is she?"

The children exchanged glances briefly, and then stared at her with some suspicion. It was the little girl who finally answered, extracting herself from the grip of the older boy.

"She ran upstairs to distract them from us," she said, on the verge of tears. "Please help Yuzu-chan!"

That was all Masumi needed to know. She pushed off of the bar and bolted for the stairs. She took them two at a time despite the ominous creaking and snapping sounds that came with every smack of her foot into the rotting wood. Duel Disk was already turned on, her first hand was pulled into her fingers, she didn't even flinch at the sparkle of electricity and the flashing of her screen that said "interruption penalty."

"I fuse three Gem Knights in my hand to fusion summon Gem Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!"

Her monster ripped through the wall and they came tumbling into the hallway. Masumi tripped, tumbled to her knees. Her eyes snapped up as she fell.

She met beautiful azure blue eyes, wide with shock.

 _Yuzu._

* * *

For a moment, Yuzu's world stopped. She stood there, frozen, mouth hanging open.

Dream. This was a dream. She couldn't...she couldn't possibly be here. It was...impossible.

No. Those crimson eyes, wide with fright and concern—they had to be real. Then...then she was here? Masumi...

Masumi had come for her.

She felt tears bubble in her eyes.

"Masumi," she whispered.

The word snapped Masumi back to herself, snapped her out of staring at Yuzu. The girl snot back to her feet.

"Normal summon Gem Knight Lazuli!" she shouted. "Then, Lady Brilliant Diamond's effect! I tribute Lazuli to special summon a Fusion monster from my Extra Deck, ignoring summoning conditions! Come, Gem Knight Master Diamond!"

The second brilliant fusion monster appeared at Masumi's side, and Yuzu had to clap her hands to her mouth to still the sob of relief that had washed over her at the sight of those familiar monsters. Her knees trembled and she thought she might collapse.

"Lazuli's effect! When sent to the graveyard for a card effect, I add a normal monster from my Graveyard to my hand! Return to me, Gem Knight Tourmaline!"

Masumi forced her way between the trio of officers, her monsters clearing the way. She darted to Yuzu's side, her face flushed and eyes wide. Almost of their own accord, her hands snapped up to grip Yuzu's shoulders.

"Are you okay?" she said, her words coming out so quickly that they tumbled over each other and sounded more like one word than three.

Yuzu breathed out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Masumi had reached her.

"Now I am."

* * *

Masumi whipped around to deal with the three officers on their tails. Her instincts had been right—these people were Yuzu's enemies.

Yuzu had saved Masumi once—it was time to return the favor.

"Lady Brilliant Diamond, attack!" she shouted. "Master Diamond, you too!"

"Trap open! Chaos Burst! By tributing one monster on the field, I destroy your attacking monster and deal 1000 points of damage!"

Masumi flinched back, throwing her arms in front of Yuzu in a desperate attempt to shield her. Oh, god, she only had two thousand life points left. This hit would drop her in half!

Master Diamond exploded with a scream and a scattering of shards. Masumi screamed too as the effect damage struck her.

"Masumi!" Yuzu screamed. Masumi wobbled, dropping to one knee. Yuzu's hands snapped under her arms in an attempt to keep her on her feet.

"Trap open! Chaos Burst!"

Masumi paled. Oh, god, two of the three had the same trap. This would take her out.

 _Yuzu—I'm sorry..._

"Trap open!" Yuzu shouted. "Paradox Fusion! By removing one face up Fusion monster on the field from play, I can negate the activation of a trap!"

Lady Diamond rippled out of sight, and the effect damage swirled past Masumi without hitting her. The trap card shattered. Masumi staggered, but Yuzu's grip stayed strong. She held Masumi up.

"I-I'm sorry, Masumi, I lost your monster..."

"You just saved my ass," Masumi muttered. "And here I was supposed to be the cool one this time..."

She swallowed, and staggered back to her feet. Yuzu's hand did not leave her side, supporting her.

"I'm sorry," she said, half smirking. "I couldn't do much at all."

"Don't say that!" Yuzu said, tears flying from her eyes. "I'm just— _you came for me._ "

The words sent a shudder down Masumi's spine.

"Thank you," Yuzu said. The tears wouldn't stop rolling down her cheeks, and her shoulders were shaking. It was all she could do to hold Masumi up as well as herself. "Thank you...oh, god, thank you. You came for me."

Masumi had to smile.

"Stop crying, you dummy," she said, wiping the tears away from one cheek with her fingers. "Of course I came. You're going to get yourself into trouble without help, aren't you?"

Yuzu choked for a moment. Then she smiled through her tears, and nodded.

"Oy, you too! It's my turn!" one of the officers snarled. "And I'll get rid of the interrupting bitch this turn. I draw!"

He didn't even look at his card before he jabbed his hand at Masumi.

"Goyo Predator, take her out!"

Yuzu's eyes snapped up with a fury.

"Trap card, Magic Cylinder!" she shouted. "You'll take the damage instead!"

A cry of shock rang out from the other side the attack shot into the cylinder and back out the other side, striking the man in the gut.

"My turn!" Yuzu shouted. "Draw!"

She glanced briefly at her card, and then a dazzling smile spread over her face.

"We can win," she whispered. "Just watch, Masumi...we can win!"

She flashed the card towards their opponents.

"Magic card, Nostalgic Tune! I can declare one monster name—if that monster is any of our decks, we special summon as many as possible to our fields. However, their attack is zero, and they will be destroyed at the end of the turn, with their combined attacks being taken out of my life points!"

"Yuzu—" Masumi started, a flicker of panic shooting through her.

"The name I declare is Crystal Rose!" Yuzu shouted.

Masumi's voice died briefly in her throat.

 _Oh_.

From Masumi's deck, a light shone out. A matching light exploded from Yuzu's deck. Before them, the light congealed and sharpened into the cut facets of twin red roses. Yuzu's eyes shone brighter than the finest diamond that Masumi had ever seen.

They met eyes for a moment, and smiled.

"We activate Crystal Rose's effect!" they shouted as one. "By discarding one monster from the deck to the Graveyard, Crystal Rose's name becomes the same as the discarded monster!"

They both sent their monsters to the graveyard—one Gem-Knight, one Melodious. The chosen creatures shimmered like a haze from the glimmer of light reflecting off of the rose's petals.

"I activate Fusion!" Yuzu shouted, and Masumi found herself shouting with her. As one, they took the card in their hands and slapped it into the disk. The two Crystal Roses glowed and swirled together into an array of glorious light.

"Reflect your glorious melody into the shining world!" they said as one. "Appear, Rose Quartz, the Lustrous Duet!"

Light sparkled all across the room in a scatter of refraction. For a moment, it was too bright to even look at the creature, the new monster created by their double Crystal Rose fusion. But then the light draped away like a cloak. She was tall, her shape obscured by the great billowing dress in shades of pink and pastel blue which seemed to be made of scales of quartz. Her hands were clasped before her, a light golden brown in color, eyes shining in two colors, one ruby and one sapphire. Her lustrous white hair tumbled down her back like it was made of threads of crystal, sending scatters of light across the floor. Beautiful silver wings curled around her, surrounded by a veil of gold that draped over her like a wedding veil. A large red rose necklace nestled at her throat.

Masumi and Yuzu met each other's gazes again. Then they turned together towards the new being that they had created.

"Rose Quartz can attack special summoned monsters once for every monster used to Fusion summon it!" they shouted.

"W-what?" one of the officers said, taking one stumbling step back.

"Rose Quartz!" they shouted. "Go! _Harmonic Refraction!_ "

Rose Quartz drew in a deep breath. Then the sound exploded from her throat. The song was high, clear, melodious. It struck through Masumi's heart like a song from long ago, and she felt tears rise to her eyes.

The music blasted past the opposing monsters. Two attacks was more than enough. There were three monsters, but none of them could stand up to Rose Quartz's four thousand attack. The shining being raised her hands to the sky and took another breath.

"This is the final blow!" Yuzu said.

"Rose Quartz's effect! When Crystal Rose is in the Graveyard, it will deal the combined attack of the monsters destroyed to the opponent at the end of the damage step!" said Masumi.

Almost unconsciously, their hands had entwined together between them sometime in the middle of the fight. They thrust one arm forward as one.

"Rose Quartz the Lustrous Duet! _Dispersion of Requiem_!"

The girl let the last breath of song go. The music twisted in a battle cry and ripped into the remaining officers. There wasn't even a cry as all three were flung back.

It felt like ages before the song ended. Rose Quartz let her hands drop back to her sides, and looked out curiously at the destruction she had wrought. This building didn't look like it would hold for too much longer, honestly.

But Masumi couldn't find it in herself to move. Her knees shook. Her hand wouldn't release Yuzu's, and she thought she felt Yuzu's tighten in hers even more desperately. Rose Quartz hovered a moment longer. Then without another sound, or even a glance at them, she vanished, fading with the life points hitting zero.

They stood there, silent. Shaking. Trying to catch their breath.

And then Yuzu giggled. And Masumi couldn't help but let out a giggle too, the relief bubbling out of her uncontrollably. She was shaking, Yuzu was shaking, it was all they could do to reach for each other's free hand and grip it, trying to hold each other up but not being willing to release each other's hands in order to actually support each other.

"We did it," Yuzu said.

"We _did_ do it," Masumi said. She felt like a loon, sitting there and giggling after a duel, but Yuzu was smiling so widely and her hands were so warm and solid and she was _here_ that Masumi just couldn't stop.

And then Yuzu, impulsive, without pausing, pushed forward on her toes and her lips crashed against Masumi's. Masumi flinched—but then she realized what was happening and before she could think about it, she was melting into the kiss, dropping Yuzu's hands so that she could slide her arms around Yuzu's waist and pull her tightly against her, feel the warmth and weight and realness of her in her arms. Yuzu's arms tightened around Masumi's waist too, as though desperate, trying to reassure herself that this was real and it wasn't a dream, the way that Masumi was.

They broke apart with a gasping, panting for breath. Yuzu's hands curled into Masumi's shirt.

"You came for me," she whispered.

"Of course I did," Masumi said. "Of course I did."

Yuzu let out a deep, deep sigh, and then she dropped her head into Masumi's shoulder. Masumi could feel the heat spreading across her cheeks, but she didn't flinch away from it. She just let her eyes flutter shut, and pressed Yuzu ever closer.

She had no idea what would come next. They had just fought off three police officers, and there were more down in the city below. There were those kids that were hiding in the lobby that would have to be taken care of, and Yaiba was still wandering around the city, probably swearing up a storm looking for Masumi, and Masumi still didn't know what the hell was going on. Everything looked pretty impossible from here.

 _As impossible as all the other things, like Yuzu being okay, and me finding her, and...and me falling in love with her._

It didn't matter what would come next.

They would face it together this time.

 _There will be no more days without you._

* * *

 **A/N: and so ends Lustershipping week, like three days late lol. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm definitely planning some more Lustershipping in the future, so maybe you'd like to stick around?**

 **About the cards, yeah, I made some up because I needed a deus ex machina. "Nostalgic Tune" and of course "Rose Quartz, the Lustrous Duet" were both my creations. Planning on making "actual" card versions of them to post on Tumblr so maybe check out my Tumblr for that! (It's linked on my profile). I was also pretty lenient with stretching card effects so...shhhhh pretend you didn't see it XD**

 **I hope you enjoyed Lustershipping Week, and thank you for reading _Facets of a Melody._**


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